1. Philosophy for Children (P4C)
An introduction to
Philosophy for Children (P4C)
Monday 24th April 2017
Ed Pawson

3. TEDxOverlake - Dr. Sara Goering - Philosophy for Kids: Sparking a Love of Learning

4. Philosophy for Children (P4C)
P4C aims to encourage young people to think
critically
caringly
creatively
collaboratively
P4C builds a 'community of enquiry' where participants create and enquire into their own questions, and 'learn how to learn' in the process

5. Key Question: What is distinctive about P4C?
Typical questions:
Why do people treat animals like slaves?
Does luck exist?
Key Question: What is distinctive about P4C?
Learning a language to enable them to disagree with each other respectfully

6. 3 Ideals in P4C
Communication
Thinking
Questioning

7. P4C: some issues and ideas
Lessons don’t always need to be content-based
There are times when we need to give children permission to go off on a tangent
Use working walls to create thought-provoking stimulus
Get children to interact outside the normal boundaries:
Pupil to pupil
Parent to child
Class to class
School to school

8. Classroom practice
Be a facilitator, not a leader: Play netball, not ping pong!
Be the guide on the side, not the sage on the stage!
Practice constructing ideas together, as a class, rather than “rubble thinking”
How to model a discussion that leads on, sequentially, point by point
Give every student a lego brick
A question is posed and one student starts by giving a response to the question, laying down their lego brick on the table
A second student responds to the first statement by leading on or arguing back against the first statement. They now lay down their brick adjoining the first
The process continues …
Develop this further, by designating different colour bricks for different types of response:
white for agree
red for disagree
yellow for point of information etc

9. Developing the linguistic skills of discussion and dialogue
Help students to start to evaluate different types of input and clarify the different sorts of comment that can be made.
This enables them to start to identify the processes of dialogue and to notice the way a discussion is constructed.
Before speaking, state your aim:
“I’m going to agree with …., because …”
“I’m going to move the debate on, by ….”
Try to encourage communal, collaborative thinking, trying not to get pulled back over the same ground again and again.
Ask students to respond to current points, not keep coming back to ideas already raised and moved on from.
eg comment A …. followed by comment B …. followed by comment C …
Don’t be drawn back by someone who wants to make a further comment on A, but move on to D

10. Why is listening important?
What does it mean to be a good listener?

12. Developing listening skills
Volunteer (the one who doesn’t listen!): clipboard, big pen and 3 badges
Record the listening in the class
End of lesson give awards to the 3 best listeners, referencing the evidence

13. Developing listening skills
Ask students to sit back to back
Give one member of the pair a picture or diagram
They then have to describe it to their partner
The partner has to draw it for themselves, from the description (no looking!)

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15. What does progress mean in thinking and dialogue?
There are many ways to show progress in thinking and dialogue skills, but here are 5 indicators to define development. The process starts with a question, and the outcome could be one of the following.
The students now:
have lots more questions
have totally changed their minds
still think what they originally thought, but with better understanding
have many different perspectives
are confused, but enriched (a good confusion)

17. Philosophy for Children Creating a Community of Enquiry
Students asking open, genuine questions
Exploring what makes a question philosophical?
Democratically choosing a question to explore
Creating a “community of enquiry”
Developing reasoning skills
Encouraging interaction and reflection
Teacher becomes facilitator
Valuing of student voice, creating environment for dialogue

18. Classroom tips for creating a community of enquiry
Re-arrange the room into a circle
To speak, open your hand on your knee
The present speaker will choose who will respond to her/him
Encourage responses to points: thumbs up, thumbs down, thumbs wobble!
Explore meta-learning by getting students to observe the process of the debate:
Arrange two concentric circles of chairs
Those in the inner ring will conduct the debate
Those in the outer ring will observe the process
Who contributes, who dominates, who holds back?
Swap groups

19. Philosophy for Children Creating a Community of Enquiry
Developing good skills and attitudes
Sit in a circle
This emphasises equality and democracy
Agree that listening is a vital skill
Be prepared to offer your views
Respect other people’s viewpoints …
… but be prepared to challenge them
Let your teacher become the “guide on the side”, not “the sage on the stage”

20. Developing the question
It is important to choose the right question or picture stimulus

23. Creating a Community of Enquiry
Look at the picture
Describe what you see
What questions does it raise?
Share and record the questions
The questions need to be philosophical
They need to make sense even if the picture where not there
When you have listed all the questions, you vote
Choose the one you want to debate as a class

24. The Kitten and the Lion
Should you always try to be the best you can be?
Can you be anything you want to be?
Do others see you as you see yourself?
Can we predict the future?
Do we always see the truth?
Does the mirror ever lie?
Is bigger always better?

25. Questions raised from the Sumo picture Is appearance everything?
What is normal?
When should you give up?
Does size matter?
Should you base personality on appearance?
What is the point of fighting a battle you know you can’t win?*
Is there a difference between an aim and an objective?
Should you look up or down on your enemies?
Is any obstacle in life too big to overcome?
Can man move mountains?
* Question voted for by the community of enquiry

26. Discussion tips
In your discussion, play netball with ideas, not ping-pong!
Don’t practice “rubble-thinking”; try to make every point move on, constructing new ideas
To speak, open your hand on your knee
The speaker chooses who will respond to her/him
Before speaking, state your aim:
“I’m going to agree with …., because …”
“I’m going to move the debate on, by ….”

27. Now start the debate!

28. Useful resources for P4C
What is P4C?
The Philosophy Man (Jason Buckley)
Sign up for Jason’s weekly
They are GREAT resources!
Gallions School
Sea of Faith: Religion and Philosophy Club

29. Video material for P4C Embedding P4C within English
P4C at Gallions Primary School
TEDxOverlake - Dr. Sara Goering - Philosophy for Kids: Sparking a Love of Learning